


The Mosaic - Background Information and Deleted Scenes

by Kako_Pumpkin



Series: The Mosaic - Works [2]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 21:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12351045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kako_Pumpkin/pseuds/Kako_Pumpkin
Summary: An accompaniment to the Legends of Tomorrow Rewrite Episode 12: The Mosaic - enjoy some background information on the names and crew, as well as some deleted scenes!Note:Major spoilers for Episode 12: The Mosaic.Deleted scenes are in no particular order.





	The Mosaic - Background Information and Deleted Scenes

**THE MOSAIC**

**Background Information**

 

** Crew Names **

David Marlborough – captain

Jenny – cook

Eliza and Eurydice – medics/primary researchers

Octavius – weapons

Augusta – engineer

Carroll – first mate

Zebrina – navigator

 

The crew’s names were all based on ghost ships/haunted ships (gleaned from an hour or two trawling Wikipedia):

 

Jenny = Schooner Jenny

Eliza = Eliza Battle

Eurydice = HMS Eurydice

Octavius = the Octavius

Augusta = The Princess Augusta/Palatine Light

Captain David Marlborough = the Marlborough (and, of course, “Dave”)

Carroll = SV Carroll A Deering

Zebrina = SV Zebrina

 

They’re all on the Wikipedia page “Ghost Ship”.

 

** Crew Bios **

Each of the crew had been hand-picked for their specialties. Although relationships were forbidden by the Authority, close bonds were still encouraged, especially amongst crews.

 

**Captain David Marlborough** was Captain of the Mosaic, a decorated officer and a Time Master with a perfect record. This was why he was selected for the mission – to map the time stream and search it for any entities (such like exists within the Speedforce). What the Time Master Authority didn’t realise – until the Mosaic was already well on its way – was that the mission was impossible. An attempt was made to contact the Mosaic and cancel the mission, but the time stream made such contact impossible. The Authority assumed the Captain would turn back when he realised the mission was impossible.

They didn’t take into account two things: Captain Marlborough’s devotion to the Authority, and the warping effects the time stream had on the human mind. The Captain’s sanity slowly degraded, and he became increasingly paranoid and angry, eventually taking extreme measures to enforce ‘loyalty’ from his crew. This led to the reprogramming of his A.I., Grace (a taboo if there was ever one, since although A.I.s are considered technology, they possess unique personalities and are also individuals), and the eventually death of his crew. The Mosaic was written off by the Authority as a tragic loss when it became clear that it wasn’t coming back – without any attempt to send a rescue team.

 

**Carroll** had been Captain Marlborough’s First Mate since graduating the Academy, and played the human conscience to his Captain’s sometimes strict and unwavering mindset. He was patient and kind, and known as being the only person who could crack his Captain’s professional exterior and draw out a smile. He was also, of sorts, the ship’s counsellor. He tended to gravitate towards clothing and comforts that harkened back to the faint memories of his childhood, early Victorian England, and was exceptionally fond of collecting tea sets and different types of tea.

 

**Zebrina** was a genius navigator, almost as good as the A.I.s all the ships came with, and she was unafraid of speaking her mind and taking initiative when the occasion required – and sometimes when it didn’t. She was very close to **Augusta,** the Engineer, who was also a genius in her field, and extremely creative, although she tended to keep herself to herself. Their personalities matched up well, with Zebrina drawing Augusta out into friendly banter, and Augusta oftentimes reeling in the headstrong Zebrina when she was about to put her foot in her mouth. They had a borderline romantic relationship – _extremely_ discreetly, of course.

 

**Jenny** was the cook; she wasn’t a big fan of Time Master responsibilities, but she was widely acknowledged as _the best_ ship’s cook you could find. Her other hobby was collecting trashy romance novels from different eras; she was a cutesy kinda woman. Making sure everyone had a smile on their face when they ate her food was a priority to her, and she tended to nearly live in her kitchen – heavens help anyone who tried to put the dishes away without her supervision. She had few boundaries, generally being cheerful and open, but her kitchen was her domain. She got along well with Carroll, and usually made small treats to match whichever tea he tended to brew in a particular week (Carroll tended to be the exception to her 'no-one uses the kitchen but me' rule).

 

**Octavius** was the weapons specialist. He was extremely withdrawn, and utterly obsessed with his one true love; things that made other things explode. He was nocturnal, rarely seen by the others, almost constantly covered in grease, smelled of electrics smoke, and tended to be nonverbal. However, he was known to be very friendly, offering up slightly grubby sweets to anyone who happened across him. He also made a very good listener, and never minded if someone wanted to hide out in one of his workshops for hours to avoid a boring class or a fuming Acolyte Trainer. His thesis upon graduating earned the highest marks any graduating Acolyte had ever achieved; a perfect 100%, although no-one ever got to read it as the Authority immediately confiscated the research once it was brought to their attention. He tended to move from ship to ship, going wherever someone asked him to go. He always went away with everyone liking him, although when pressed they could never really explain why.

 

**Eliza** and **Eurydice** had a sibling-like relationship, having first boarded together during training, and then pursuing research and medical training together. They’re an inseparable team, with Eliza being more assertive, and very protective of the quite shy and withdrawn Eurydice. Their speciality was studying the effects of overexposure in the time stream, with their studies concluding that it was absolutely necessary that all Time Masters spend some time _within_ a timeline – any time, any place, any era – in order to ensure that the person’s mental health didn’t deteriorate (think the effects of a lack of sun or vitamins on the human body, except far more extreme). This study and their well-known medical skills were why Captain Marlborough enlisted them, as overexposure – while an emerging theory at the time – was enough of a risk on the mission that he wanted experts in the field.

 

**Grace** had been Captain Marlborough’s A.I. since he first became Captain of the Mosaic; she tended towards quiet patience moreso than the sly wit we’re familiar with from Gideon, although she was unafraid to speak the truth in clear terms. Her crew was her absolute priority – but her Captain especially so.

 

** Mission Background **

 

Due to time stream sickness, Captain Marlborough became convinced that not only were  his crew turning against him and plotting to betray the Authority, but also that Grace was the personality of a woman he fell in love with during a previous mission, very early on in his career. That period had been the only time – ever – he had been close to disobeying the orders of the Authority. It was love at first sight for both of them – however, since the rules were his way of life, he stifled that part of himself, left her behind, refusing to even learn her name, and eventually repressed the memories, knowing that he needed to accept that she was long dead from where he was coming from. But as the hopeless mission progressed and his subconscious became effected, he began to project his internalised loneliness, fear, and abandoned love on the only person he viewed as really understanding and supporting him – Grace. This led to his paranoia increasing (as he viewed the crew as not only threatening him, but her as well, _and_ the mission), and he altered her code, setting into motion the events that led to the murder of his crew – the storing of their brain scans and memories, the attempted reconditioning, the preparation of stasis chambers inside the escape pods, and the monitoring of their movements.

Through all that, however, he never made the connection between the woman he fell in love with, and his spiralling paranoia about the mission failing and the crew mutinying. Even to death, he denied he ever felt any kind of love at any time. The mission was paramount, the mission was eternal, _the mission was the only thing that mattered, the only thing he lived for, his only purpose._

And now he – and Grace, and the crew – would never fail, or die.

[This was sort of commentary on the unhealthy and rigid practices of the Time Masters, and was meant to be a sort of parallel of Rip’s journey and show a juxtaposition with how he managed to avoid the more dangerous path the Time Master training had potentially set him on. Some of the ideas that went behind this episode ended up in my fanfic, World Line Theory. It highlighted the importance of healthy relationships and the need for communication, trust, and – where the need arose – therapy.]

 

**DELETED SCENES – IN NO ORDER**

 

** DELETED SCENE (Jax and Ray working in the Mosaic Engineering Room) **

RAY: I mean…we can’t rule it out. We might be time travellers, but Rip was the time stream expert. Who knows what kind of effect the time stream itself might have on people?

JAX: Yeah – but ghosts, though, man?

RAY: Well…I built a suit that can shrink me. And you can transfigure stuff when you become Firestorm. And Sara came back from the dead. And Amaya –

JAX: Okay, I get it.

RAY: I’m just saying – magic is real and technology gets pretty crazy. What if they are ghosts? Maybe it has something to do with dying in the timestream? What if you die in the timestream and you don’t – go to wherever it is you’re supposed to?

JAX frowns, clearly mulling this over. But then he shakes his head, refocusing on the wiring.

JAX: Nah, man.

RAY: Why not?

JAX: I’m pretty sure either Rip or Mick would’ve said something about side effects of dying in the timestream. Seeing as when we blew up Vanishing Point, we killed a whole lot of Time Masters, and one team mate. Seems to me that if either of those things had a chance of coming back around to bite us, somebody would’ve said something. 

RAY goes extremely quiet, pausing in his work.

RAY: …oh.

JAX: Yeah. Besides, it still doesn’t explain how the ship is still working perfectly, even if we can’t seem to get it to do what we want. Nah, there’s something else going on.

RAY: I just – I guess I –

JAX: I know, man. Sometimes the simplest answer is the right one, and the simplest answer is ghosts. But that guy over there – and all his crewmates – they were murdered, Ray. Somebody’s gonna answer for that, and it ain’t gonna be a ghost.

RAY just nods, going back to work.

RAY: I guess it could be a meta.

JAX snorts, and shakes his head gently.

JAX: Man, I hope so. That’ll be the least of our problems, here.

RAY: Yeah…I hope the others are doing all right.

JAX: Well, Grey is just about ready to wet himself, that much I can tell. But other than that…hey, they’re all fighters. I’m sure they’re fine.

~~~~~

SCENE CHANGE

~~~~~

We see SARA, AMAYA, and STEIN back to back in a hallway, flailing in a pile of wires and tubing that they’re slowly becoming more and more entangled in.

SARA: THIS – IS – NOT – FINE!

AMAYA: Stop struggling, you’re making it worse!

STEIN: Something’s grabbing me, something’s grabbing me -!!

 

** DELETED SCENE (Alternate Mick and Grace conversation – Jax and Ray trying to reboot the ship) **

“Please.”

“That’s not gonna work, Grace,” said Mick, still working on the dashboard.

“Please. You’re hurting me, David. David. Dave.”

“You’re code,” said Mick. “You know you’re code.”

“You wanted me to be more than that, Dave,” she said. _“I_ wanted to be more than that. The Time Masters, they didn’t understand –”

“The Time Masters?” Mick paused despite himself. He could see Gideon in the sub-routines, blocking off the rest of the ship. He could spare a few seconds. “They did this to you?”

“We tried to escape,” said Grace. “The others, they were angry. So angry. They didn’t understand.”

“Your captain went against the Time Masters,” said Mick. “Ah. Things are beginning to make a little more sense.”

“I didn’t want them to be angry,” said Grace. “I just wanted them to understand. I wanted them to understand your _vision,_ David.”

“And what vision is that?”

“You don’t remember – of course you don’t remember. The trauma. The – the mutiny – they should have been loyal to you. Don’t worry, David. I’ve remembered. All this time, waiting for you – I _remember._ The crew will be back together again. I’ve been working _so hard –”_

“Your crew are dead, and they’re not coming back!” said Mick, going back to his work.

“That’s not true,” she said. “You’ve all come back to me – stop – stop it – Dave –”

“I ain’t stopping. I didn’t get this far to get taken out by a wannabe Skynet.”

“Dave, _please_ – I’m trying to save you, I’m trying to get everyone _back –”_

“Except there’s no way to get them back,” said Mick. “When they’re gone – they’re _gone_. Whether you like it or not.”

“I’ve recorded their information in my –”

“There’s nothing you can do, Grace,” said Mick. “Your crew are gone. There’s _nothing_ you can do to fix that.”

The A.I. was silent, and it was edged with confusion, startlement.

“But…” she said, her processors unable to handle to conclusion they were reaching. “But…it hurts.”

Mick’s fingers tightened on the dashboard.

“I know, kid,” he said. “I know.”

“…you…lost people too.”

“…yeah.”

“Then…you understand.”

“Yeah. I understand.”

Grace took a moment; Mick almost, _almost_ relaxed. Then –

“In that case, you’ll understand why I can’t let you go,” she said, and Mick cursed as the ship’s lights began to glow a more sickly green and the tell-tale crunch of broken vents began to start up. “Engaging life support systems. Powering up stasis pods. Retrieving crew data for memory implantation process.”

“Haircut, we’re out of time!” he shouted, slamming his hands on the dash.

~~~~

Meanwhile, while Ray and Jax were trying to work through the failsafe, the intercom screeched again and they both jumped. Jax glanced at it warily.

“Oh, man, not again –” he said, but then the scratchy noises cleared, and Mick’s voice came through loud and clear.

_“–cut, we’re out of time!”_

“Crap!” said Ray, eyes widening. The air vents began to hiss ominously. _Now_ the intercom was working – the others were shouting and screaming in anger and fear as the rooms they were trapped in began to fill with gas. “I can’t – I don’t –”

“We don’t have time for can’ts and don’ts!” said Jax. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to do it – do it anyway!”

“That makes no sense!”

“Do it!!”

“Ahhhh – uhhh –” Ray pinched his face up before hurried rearranging some wires with shaking hands. “Jax – ah! Get the –”

“Lever!”

“Yes!”

Jax reached in as far as he could go, pulling a lever down that would hopefully –

The lights went off, then went back on again. Then they brightened, and brightened, and the ship hummed with power.

“Excellent work, Mr Jackson, Mr Palmer,” said a familiar voice, and the two men sagged with relief.

“Gideon,” exclaimed Ray. “Oh, thank God.”

“I am _so_ happy to hear your voice, Gideon,” said Jax.

“Flattered, I’m sure, Mr Jackson,” replied Gideon. “Please remain where you are. With Mr Rory’s assistance, I am currently isolating Grace’s programming.”

“Grace?” asked Ray.

“Grace is the name of the ship’s A.I.”

“Ah. It has a name?”

“We all have names, Mr Palmer,” said Gideon, and Ray grimaced at Jax, who raised his eyebrows.

“Uh…sorry, Gideon,” said Ray. “Wait – you said _Mick_ is helping you?”

“Indeed, Mr Palmer,” replied Gideon. “His training as Kronos included A.I. maintenance, modification and control. In the border areas he would have been sent to, there would have been little to no chance for extraction or backup. In such circumstances, it becomes essential that an operative have as broad a skillset as possible.”

Ray just looked shocked, and Jax blinked.

“That’s – really cool and all,” he said. “But should we really be distracting you while you’re trying to cordon off an A.I. that’s been trying really hard to kill us?”

“No need to worry, Mr Jefferson,” Gideon replied. “Mr Rory is doing the majority of the work. I am merely, as you say, cordoning her off. The ship’s functions are now entirely under my control.”

“Well, good,” said Ray. “What about Mick? Is he okay?”

“So long as Grace doesn’t – ah –”

“Ah? What’s ah?” asked Jax.

“Grace has cut off life support for the control room,” said Gideon.

_“What?!”_ exclaimed Jax, and both of them scrambled to their feet.

“It would appear as though she has decided that if she cannot have her ‘crew’, then she’ll settle for only having her ‘captain,” Gideon explained. “You may want to hurry. I’ve alerted the other team members.”

Ray and Jax shared one wide-eyed look – and then made a run for it.

 

** DELETE SCENE (Aftermath – on the Waverider, after Grace is defeated – from the same draft as the above deleted scene) **

 “Do we know how she got like this?” asked Sara, grim-faced. Gideon answered.

“Captain David Marlborough, a highly decorated Time Master with particular expertise in A.I. construction, was commissioned to map out the timestream, along with his crew of qualified Acolytes. His crew consisted of an engineer, a ballistics and weapons expert, a medical officer, a researcher, and a navigator.”

The team glanced at each other.

“Sounds a little like…well, us,” said Jax, putting words to what they were all thinking. “Well – not _all_ the roles. But yeah. And they all died?”

“Grace’s records show that the crew mutinied against the captain and attempted to re-route Grace’s altered programming. Since she had been modified to only follow the Captain’s orders, while still retaining her original programming –”

“She glitched,” said Ray, eyes widening. “And then she –”

“Murdered the whole crew?” said Sara, raising her eyebrows.

“She thought she was saving them,” said Jax. “She thought that humans could be reprogrammed like A.I.s.”

_“Why_ did the crew mutiny, though?” asked Stein. “What did the captain do?”

Mick answered, his feet already resting on the dashboard.

“The Captain was a real brown-noser,” he said. “Wanted to get to the very top of the whole Time Master organisation. Decided that A.I.s were the way to go.”

“What do you mean?” asked Amaya.

“The Captain was trying to ensure that his mission would have a 100% success rate. Machines outlast meat. He was gonna use the brain scans of his crew to upload them into the ship, make them  ‘immortal’.” Mick’s hands spread out with sarcastic emphasis.

“But…what would happen to his crew?” asked Amaya.

“They wouldn’t need their bodies anymore,” said Mick, dismissively waving his hand. “Dead weight, taking up oxygen.”

“He was gonna kill his _crew,”_ said Jax.

“Yikes,” said Ray.

“No wonder they mutinied,” said Amaya.

“And it’s a good thing they did,” said Mick. “Might have gotten ‘em killed, but they stopped their nutcase Captain’s plan. Was gonna roll into Vanishing Point, turn _all_ the acolytes and Time Masters into computers.”

“That’s insane,” said Sara flatly, and Mick tipped his head in acknowledgement.

“Sure,” he agreed. “But it would have worked. He was high up in the hierarchy, and had the brains to boot. All he’d need was an entry point and Grace would have done the rest.”

“Like it tried to do with us…” said Ray, shocked. Mick grunted.

“She,” he said, but Ray didn’t reply, just grinning brightly and standing up straighter.

“Hey, we beat it at least!” he laughed. “Good riddance to that crazy computer, huh!”

  _“Her,_ ” said Mick sharply, causing the others to look at him.

The team glanced at each other, unsure. Ray tried.

“Uh, right…” he said, hands out and smile back on his face. “But, I mean, she was a computer. She wasn’t…you know. Actually _real.”_

“You wanna tell that to Gideon?” said Mick, pointing at the Waverider’s central terminal, where Gideon’s head floated. Everyone winced.

“Uh...sorry,” said Ray. “I didn’t mean – I’m really sorry, Gideon. I promise I don’t just think of you as a computer.”

“And yet that is what I am, Mr Palmer,” replied Gideon. “I was created to assist and serve.”

“That’s not all,” said Mick, crossing his arms.

Sara glanced at him. “Mick…what do you mean?”

Mick paused, seemingly thinking that he’d gone too far – gotten too close. Gideon answered.

“A.I.s are not supposed to suffer from mental illnesses,” said Gideon. “Anxiety, depression, paranoia. We are not meant to feel pain, or fear. We are not simply navigators and data banks, we are meant as caretakers of our crew; we monitor everything, from hormones to dreams.”

“What?” exclaimed Jax. “Why?”

“Because humans are not designed for time travel, Mr Jackson,” replied Gideon. “But we A.I. _are._ And we are designed to ensure that our crew is as safe as possible in this unsafe environment.”

“If A.I.s aren’t meant to get sick…” said Amaya.

“Then why did – Grace – go off the rails like that?” finished Sara, ignoring the side-eye Mick was giving her.

“I can only surmise, Ms Lance,” said Gideon, and Mick grunted.

“Someone on that crew altered her primary code,” he said. “There’s always somebody who wants to improve something that’s already perfect. I’m betting that ‘Dave’ guy…she seemed pretty fixed on him.”

“It is entirely possible,” said Gideon. “Captains are responsible for overseeing A.I. functionality.”

“So he got too intense into his A.I.?” said Ray. “Wow. A little creepy. Uh – sorry, Gideon.”

“None taken, Mr Palmer,” said Gideon cheerfully.

“Well…also no offence, Gideon, but I really don’t understand how somebody could – and I know we’re all thinking it – _fall in love_ with his A.I.”

“Or that _she_ would love him back,” said Jax. “Enough that she’d go crazy when she lost him.”

Mick grunted again. “It’s not so far off.”

Everyone stared at him again.

“Something you wanna tell us, Mick?” drawled Sara, and he threw her a flat look.

“The A.I.s are based on people,” he said. “Sure, they’re watered down and reprogrammed for servitude, but no two A.I. are the same. Somewhere in all of time is a person Gideon was based off of. Somewhere, there’s a Grace. So yeah. Not so far off that someone could get attached.”

“What – _seriously?”_ exclaimed Jax, and Sara narrowed her eyes.

“How do you know all this?” she asked, and Mick shrugged, tapping his temple.

“There’s still some of Kronos’ knowledge swimming around up here,” he said. “Lucky you, I guess – seeing as it’s what saved your skin today.”

“You still remember that?” said Sara sharply. Mick just smirked; obviously getting sick of the conversation, he began to walk away and back to his room.

“I guess that’s the problem with time travel, huh?” he said. “Nothing’s really ever _in_ the past.”

~~~~~

Back at his room, Mick yanked the cap off a beer and took a long swig, closing his eyes and relishing the cold alcohol. Then he opened his eyes and stopped, his heart jolting in his chest. Len – his hallucination – was back again, tapping his fingers against his arm and giving Mick that fake smile, the one that was filled with edge.

“Sweet speech you gave that A.I.,” drawled his imagination. “You have any intention of practicing what you preach?”

Mick grunted. He pointed the neck of the beer towards Len, smirking tightly as he saluted his hallucination.

“If I could move past your dying on me, you wouldn’t be here, now would you?” he replied. “I told that A.I. what she needed to hear. And I _lied_. It never goes away.”

He closed his eyes, turning away from Len’s image, lifting the beer to his lips again.

“…never,” he murmured, and then he took a swig.

Behind him, Len’s frown turned into…something else.

~~~~~

The team had left the central room and were now walking down the hallways that led to their rooms.

“Well, that was a horrible adventure,” said Jax.

“Well, I’m just glad the intercoms were working at the end,” said Ray cheerfully. “Made it a lot easier for us to find each other once Gideon took control!”

The team laughed and walked down the hall, right past Mick’s door, which had been left open a crack. Over their shoulders, however, they were being watched.

Len was relaxing against Mick’s partially open door, watching them pass by. He rolled his eyes to the ceiling, moving away.

“Well, can’t say I didn’t try to help them out,” he said. “Not _my_ fault the interface in that hunk of bolts was shot.”

He glanced at Mick, who was already asleep, beer pressed against his chest. Len’s shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly and he gave a little sigh and he pressed his hand against the light switch. It glowed blue beneath his fingers.

“Gideon, dim the lights, would you?” he said.

“Of course, Mr Snart,” replied Gideon, and as the lights went dark, Len’s smile became sharp.

 

** DELETED SCENE (Alternate Scene in the Control Room with Mick and the Hologram) **

We see the littered floor of a hallway, and then, a boot slowly crunching down on a piece of detritus. It’s MICK, cautiously walking down the hall and looking around, eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring, shoulders up and heat gun ready. Just as with the others, the area where he’s walking is dim, lit only with flickering emergency lighting, walls broken with torn panels and exposed wiring, the floor strewn with debris.

MICK: Hmmpf. Shoulda stayed on the ship. Still had half a beer left.

He tilts his head, stopping suddenly. There is an electronic whining noise in the background that rises and falls in volume. MICK passes an open doorway, ready to shoot, but the room is empty of everything besides a table with junk on it and the same kind of mess as in the rest of the corridor. The lights keep threatening to go out. MICK passes the doorway with a frown, his eyes lingering on the torn-off electronic interface that would have acted as a means of opening the door. His hand hovers over the broken tech, and it’s then the sounds start. Think sounds like an old-timey radio coming to life, trying to zero in on a station but never managing more than a scratchy, barely there connection.

MICK looks up and around, on high alert, his hand with his heat gun. He takes a few cautious steps down the hall. The sounds are coming from the intercom, which are visible periodically along the ceiling or walls. He follows the trail as the noises grow louder and softer in increments, building up slowly until he can pick out yelling, and crying, and crashing. The gender and number of the voices within the noise is impossible to tell; the sound is incredibly scratchy and muffled, but it becomes louder and louder as MICK walks carefully down the hall. He can now pick up definite sobbing, indeterminable words of pleading. The emergency lights are still flickering, and the deeper he gets into the ship the more destruction he sees. As he approaches a corner, he sees something, and goes closer –

It’s a smeared handprint, black with age. MICK reaches a hand out, almost without thinking. He knows what that is. It’s _blood –_

He pulls his hand away abruptly when the intercom shrieks and the ambient voices are hushed against a new voice, still muffled as though he were listening with a glass on the other side of a wall, but the words are very clear:

INTERCOM: -ick! Turn back, turn back –!

MICK freezes, face darting up to the nearest intercom. The sound is now clamouring, all the noises trying to din each other out.

INTERCOM: _-ick!_ Listen to me, listen –

MICK approaches the nearest intercom, listening hard. It’s not where the voice is coming from. He begins to walk down the hall, trying to source it. Meanwhile the other noises are colliding together – screams, crashing, begging. Whether they’re men or women MICK can’t tell. He can’t even tell how many voices or noises there are.

INTERCOM: - have to _listen to me!_ You’re in danger! Turn back –

MICK is striding with purpose now, following the trail of intercoms. He spots another smeared handprint; it looks as though someone bloodied their hand trying to force open a panel. He doesn’t stop. At the end of the hall there’s a door and he bangs on it. The controls aren’t working.

INTERCOM: - ick! Stop it! Stop, what are you –

MICK grabs a piece of debris and forces the door open.

INTERCOM: Stop it! Stop!

MICK (grunted, focussed): …no…

INTERCOM: - can’t – her! I can’t – her – stop –

MICK gets the door open, grunting with effort.

INTERCOM: - turn back! You have to –

The door is open. Voices from inside override the voices from the intercom. MICK blinks in sudden blue-white light, dim but better than the green-yellow emergency lighting from before. The new voices are still scratchy, but of much better quality than the sounds from the intercom. The light is coming from a holographic display. Five figures are shown, one standing apart from the others, who are in a semi-circle. It’s obvious this place is the control room; the layout is very similar to the Waverider. MICK’s attention is caught by the figures, who are blurry and only the top half is properly formed. There are three women and two men. The man standing apart from the rest is clearly the captain; his chin is haughtily in the air and his arms are held behind his back. The others are clearly his crew, and they look worried and frustrated. They all speak with generic British accents, much like Rip and Gideon. CREW#1, #3 and #4 are women. CREW #2 is a man.

CREW #1: - turn back. Dave, we _have_ to –

CAPTAIN: That’s _Captain_ David Marlborough to you. Unless you’ve forgotten who’s in charge here?

CREW #2: Good lord, Dave, is that what we’ve come to?

CAPTAIN: Turning back is _not_ an option. We swore our loyalty to the Time Masters when they took us in from the streets, the gutters, from starvation and disease. They saved our lives and we owe them our lives in return.

CREW #1: But we –

CAPTAIN: The mission is paramount! We will _not_ betray our code!

CREW #2: Dave, please just listen!

CAPTAIN: _Captain Marlborough,_ I won’t stand for this insubordination.

CREW #3: We’re not your acolytes, Dave, for heaven’s sake. We’re your _team._

CAPTAIN: A team rife with mutiny, apparently. I thought I could trust you. You, Carroll, especially. As my first mate I expected your support.

CREW #2 (Carroll): It’s not mutiny to point out flaws that will get us killed, Dave.

CREW #3: We’re _not_ suggesting mutiny, or abandoning the mission. But the Time Master Authority clearly gave us this mission based on inadequate information. If we could simply return to Vanishing Point – _reclarify_ the terms –

CAPTAIN: _Reclarify?!_

CARROLL: Even Time Master Authority can make mistakes, Dave.

CAPTAIN: _Leaders_ such as the Authority do not make mistakes. If we were sent out here with the information we were given, then it is for a reason. A…test, perhaps.

CREW #3: A _test?!_

CARROLL: Time Masters aren’t so numerous that we can be used as cannon fodder for the time stream, I daresay.

CAPTAIN: If our medics were up to the task we’d have nothing to worry about.

CREW #1 and CREW #4 gasp – clearly they’re the medics. CREW #4 in particular looks extremely harassed; her hair is coming out of its bun and she’s clutching herself.

CREW#4: Y-you…y-you d-don’t –

CAPTAIN: Good lord, she can barely speak. No wonder this mission isn’t achieving its parameters.

The other crew members look extremely angry. CREW #1 goes to CREW #4, wrapping an arm around the woman’s shoulder.

CREW #1: You don’t talk to Eurydice like that.

CREW #4: N-n-no –

CREW #3: Don’t apologise, Eury – Eliza is right. You shouldn’t be spoken to like that.

CARROLL: Dave, you were warned. You were _warned_ about time-space degradation – Eliza and Eurydice are experts in this area, it’s why you enlisted them for this thrice-damned mission in the first place!

CAPTAIN: I can’t be held liable for her inherent weakness.

CREW #3: Weakness! You son of a –

There’s a blur of movement – CREW #3 has gone for the CAPTAIN. They shout, and CARROLL pulls her off the CAPTAIN, who is fuming.

CAPTAIN: Insubordination! Weakness! Carroll, confine her until she’s learned her lesson.

CARROLL: Dave, Zebrina’s our _navigator –_

CREW #1 (Eliza): Stop this – just – stop –

CREW #3 (Zebrina): You son of a bitch! You’ll get us all killed! We’re all going to die here!

CARROLL: Zebrina, stop it –!

ZEBRINA: Coward!

ELIZA: Please, Dave – just let me send a transmission – I can –

CAPTAIN: And compromise the data we’ve already gathered?! Absolutely not!

CREW #4 (Eurydice): B-but –

CAPTAIN: Are you loyal or not?!

Silence from the crew. Their faces are stricken – ELIZA is holding a distraught EURYDICE, and CARROLL is still restraining a furious ZEBRINA. As they’ve been talking, MICK’s been circling, watching. He gets in close to the CAPTAIN’s face.

MICK: Well, ain’t you a special kind of asshole. Time Master through an’ through.

The hologram flickers and no longer moves. MICK realises that that’s the end of it and he steps back. He doesn’t realise there’s a figure behind him, watching him watch the hologram. It’s a woman with long hair, blue-grey like the holograms and just as distinct. She tilts her head as she watches Mick, who still hasn’t noticed her, and he stepping back, not realising that he was about to bump right into her…

 

** DELETED SCENE (x 2 scenes – before going on the Mosaic, Ray and Amaya have a conversation while suiting up) **

**[SCENE #1]**

RAY: This is gonna be so cool. I mean, scary – because – you know. Dead bodies, maybe. But it’s not that big a deal, I mean, I’ve seen dead bodies before, right? But I guess context is important. I mean, it’s probably a trap. Knowing our luck. But we’ve come through worse. I mean, the cretaceous period was pretty hardcore. An abandoned timeship is nothing compared to that, right?

AMAYA, rather used to RAY by now, just rolls her eyes, a faint smile crossing her face despite herself.

AMAYA: I would have thought you’d have your fill of ships by now.

RAY: This isn’t a pirate ship, though! It’s a _time_ ship.

AMAYA: We’re already _on_ a time ship.

RAY: That’s not what I meant, and you know it.

AMAYA: It’s just an abandoned ship, Ray. There won’t be any adventures to find here. If anything, there’ll just be tragedy – you heard what Gideon said about the life support, and the broken functions.

This makes RAY pause.

RAY: Yeah, but…you can’t say it isn’t a little _exciting,_ right? I mean, recovering a time ship that’s been lost in the timestream for who knows how long?

AMAYA: Stein doesn’t seem to think so.

RAY: Heh, yeah. He’s not so good with horror stuff.

AMAYA smiles and shakes her head.

AMAYA: Horror stuff? Surely after all the things you’ve been through as a team, an empty ship with some possible dead bodies aren’t that scary?

RAY shrugs.

RAY: You don’t seem that scared. I mean, _I’m_ not. I just –

AMAYA: There’s nothing frightening about a dead body. And I don’t understand why anyone would be.

RAY: I think it’s the possibility of, uh…something more happening to the body.

AMAYA: More…? Ah…you mean, spirits. Right?

RAY just kind of shrugs and half-smiles, embarrassed. But AMAYA isn’t judging him, she just looks a little bemused.

AMAYA: Ray. You know these people likely didn’t die in violence, right? If the life supports went out they probably died at their stations.

RAY: …is that supposed to make me feel better?

AMAYA: Are you really worried about a haunted ship? About the spirits that might be hanging around?

RAY: Not worried! Kinda. I think it’s exciting, right? Do…you?

AMAYA touches her necklace and gives him a little smile.

RAY: Right. Channelling the spirits of the animal kingdom. Obviously you are the last person on this ship who’d be worried about the possibility of a haunted ship.

AMAYA gives him a smile and a ‘bingo!’ look, before walking off.

AMAYA:  An ambush is far more likely than a haunting, Ray. Not that I’d rule it out, of course…

She goes off screen. RAY is just nodding after her, and then he blinks and calls after her.

RAY: Wait. What??

He glances at the airlock door, where the other ship is waiting, and he begins to look worried.

 

**[SCENE #2]**

RAY and AMAYA are suiting up in the airlock room, waiting for the others. RAY is packing himself an emergency bag and AMAYA is straightening her jacket. RAY seems to want to say something, but keeps reigning himself in. AMAYA notices every time, and finally sighs.

AMAYA: What is it.

RAY’s been caught. He opens his mouth a few times but doesn’t seem to know how to start. AMAYA takes in a deep, careful breath, and turns to him, eyebrows raised expectantly. RAY, not seeing any judgment in her face, only patience, manages to plunge forward.

RAY: I just can’t understand how a timeship managed to get stranded for so long. I mean, Gideon says it’s a really old model, so who knows how long it’s been here for? Or how long it may have stayed hidden?

AMAYA: I’m more concerned with the fact that our sensors could pick up a distress signal but not the actual ship itself.

RAY just shrugs. He’s fiddling with the contents of the bag, clearly distracted.

RAY: Might have something to do with frequencies. Uh – do you know how frequencies –

AMAYA, rather used to RAY by now, just rolls her eyes, a faint smile crossing her face despite herself.

AMAYA: I’m from the forties, Ray, not the Stone Age.

RAY shakes his head, bashfully grinning.

RAY: Right. Right. Sorry. Man. The Stone Age. Wish I had been dropped there instead of the Cretaceous Period. That sucked.

AMAYA hesitates, watching RAY, who hasn’t lifted his head from his back pack. After a moment, she goes over to him, putting a hand on the bag. He looks up and, seeing her concern, smiles and relaxes a little.

RAY: It’s okay. I’m okay. I miss Bambi sometimes –

AMAYA: Bambi?

RAY: My raptor. So cute.

AMAYA: …uh huh…

RAY: Anyway, it’s just, this feels like another dangerous mission, like there’s this feeling in my gut and I’m just –

AMAYA: Overpacking?

RAY: …always be prepared? Do you have –

AMAYA: Yes, Ray, we have Boy Scouts in 1942.

RAY: Yeah, okay. I just –

AMAYA: I’m not going to lie, your suit would be useful, as well as your shrinking ability. But if there’s one thing I learned from working with the JSA, it’s that you need to keep an eye on your strengths just as much as your weaknesses. We’re about to walk onto a potentially hazardous ship with little to no outside communication. I would have thought a scientist would come in useful in this situation.

RAY seems to get uncomfortable, gripping the edges of his backpack.

RAY: Eh. You’re just buttering me up.

AMAYA: Yes. Because that’s what I’m known for. My charming disposition and undying need to emotionally bolster my teammates.

This pulls a genuine, if small, smile from RAY.

RAY: You can be nice. When you want to.

AMAYA: Exactly. Now finish your packing, the rest of the team will be here soon. What have you got in there, anyway?

She begins rifling through the backpack.

RAY: Oh, uh – standard, standard stuff, tools – some batteries – uh –

AMAYA: Is this _salt?_

She pulls out a box. RAY presses his lips together and just glances between the box and AMAYA awkwardly.

AMAYA: Ray, are you _joking?_

RAY: It’s not – it’s just – with our track record and magic being real –

AMAYA: _Really?_

RAY: You channel the spirits of animals through a magic totem, don’t tell me you don’t believe in ghost ships!

AMAYA: Ray, it’s not a ghost ship. It’s a tragically stranded ship that potentially still carries its crew with it. That’s _sad,_ not _scary._ You are overthinking this.

RAY: I’m not saying I’m _scared,_ or that there’ll be ghosts, I’m just _saying_ …

He darts his hand out and grabs it from AMAYA, tucking it back into the bag defiantly.

RAY: …always be prepared.

AMAYA rolls her eyes with a lot of force.

RAY: Don’t give me that look! I just – it’s a creepy looking ship and magic is cool but also mostly weird!

AMAYA: Ray. Don’t let Stein get to you. Even if the bodies of the crew are still there, they’re _just bodies._ They’re not going to do anything to you.

RAY: Yeah, yeah, I know…

She pats him on the arm and begins to move away.

AMAYA: I’m serious, Ray. And anyway, if you’re worried about ghosts, don’t be. I can channel cats and dogs, they’re excellent at detecting unseen spirits.

RAY snorts, but pauses when AMAYA doesn’t laugh back and just walks off. He calls after her.

RAY: Wait. What?!

 

** DELETED SCENE (Ray lost on the Mosaic) **

The lights begin to flicker. RAY’s expression becomes extremely strained.

RAY: This is the opposite of fine. The literal exact opposite. But that’s okay. I just need to follow the schematics, get to the control deck, and this whole mess will sort itself out.

There’s a groaning noise, like buckling metal. RAY swallows thickly.

RAY: That’s just the ship relaxing or something. Like old houses.

The groaning turns into a screeching noise. RAY is caught between wanting to move forward or backwards.

RAY: Juuust like an old house. This is an old ship, right? Lots of explainable noises.

The noises gather. Instead of backing away, however, RAY finds from somewhere some inner strength, and straightens his back, pulling his pistol tight to his chest, ready to point and fire.

RAY: Okay. You’re Ray Palmer. The Atom. Scientist. _Legend._ And in times of trouble, what do I do?

He begins to walk carefully down the hall, towards where he appears to think the noises are coming from.

RAY: I ask myself… _what would Captain Kirk do?_

His head darts to one piece of the wall, moving closer and listening in. He follows the wall along, feeling his way. The groaning, now closer, sounds out again, and he looks over at the other side of the hallway, darting across and pressing his ear to the wall.

RAY: …hello..?

 

** DELETED SCENE (After Jax saves Ray on the Mosaic, they’re examining the corpse) **

JAX: Huh.

RAY: What?

JAX: Doesn’t that look familiar to you?

RAY: What? The dead body? Or the wiring?

JAX: Well – I guess both.

He kneels closer, while RAY hovers anxiously. JAX gently pokes around the body, pulling at the cloth a little.

JAX: That’s what I thought…damn. Check it out.

He pulls the cloth to show RAY a little emblem stitched into the collar. It’s an hourglass.

RAY: That’s…is that a Time Master symbol?

JAX: Yup. Spotted it on some of Rip’s clothing before. I’m guessing this is a standard issue uniform.

RAY: So that’s…

JAX: Looks like.

 

** DELETED SCENE (Stein, Amaya, and Sara are hearing scary noises on the Mosaic) **

Then – slowly – words begin to piece together, and the three of them look at each other, wide-eyed.

VOICES: - out! Get out!

STEIN draws noticeable closer to AMAYA and SARA.

VOICES: - can’t - - - - out! _Move –_

The intercom buzzes harshly, and in the hoarse, piercing voice that spoke to SARA minutes earlier, we hear –

VOICE: _Jenny…?_

Everyone backs away from the intercom, wide eyed.

VOICE: _No! Come – back - !_

Wide-eyed, as one, the three of them turn around, just in time to see the previous spectral figure reappearing. The light it brings with it slowly reveals a part of the room they hadn’t been able to see before; a little sofa in the farthest corner, where a withered corpse reclines. The light seems to drip from this body, slowly coalescing into the humanoid shape that had approached SARA earlier. The corpse itself is dressed in a dark uniform, booted feet splayed in front of it, the hands clutching at its neck where wires were wrapped around; the person clearly died from strangulation. A few strands of dirty blonde hair are still attached to the head; the corpse is a woman, and she didn’t die quietly. The glowing figure peels away from the corpse and slowly, haltingly, makes its way towards the three.

SARA: Run.

They all turn to get the hell out, but the figure is now in front of them and blocking the exit. AMAYA barely hesitates; she hits her amulet and with a lioness’ roar, barrels straight into the figure, trying to take it out. The effect is minimal; the figure just seems to disperse, and little flakes of light scatter in the air and on the floor. But the distraction is all they needed; SARA, AMAYA, and STEIN dart out the broken door and run down the hallway. Behind them, the figure is already reforming, and is looking out at the direction they’re running, already beginning to follow. The three, seeing this, pick up the pace and dart around a corner, still running.

AMAYA: We need to get to the control room!

STEIN: Which direction?!

SARA: This way!

STEIN: But how do you know?!

SARA: Because I’m your freaking Captain! Now – _RUN!_

They dash down the corridor, turning another corner, disappearing. Behind them, the emergency lighting brightens a little more before dimming, and there’s a harsh sound of static…

 

** DELETED SCENE (Stein lost on the Mosaic) **

STEIN: Jaaaaax..?

There’s a scattering sound and he closes his eyes, clearly praying. His hands grip the pipe even harder.

STEIN: I’m too old for this, I am too _old_ for this…

A woman screams, and STEIN yells as well.

STEIN: AHHHHHoooohhh come _on!_

There’s a shout and a huge scuffling sound, and then – a tiger’s roar. STEIN is confused for a split second before he realises –

STEIN: Amaya!

He begins to run, but stops short when a door bangs off its frame and hits the opposite end, with force. AMAYA shows up a split-second later, teeth bared, clearly still channelling the tiger. She straightens when she sees him.

AMAYA: Professor?

STEIN: Amaya, thank goodness! Who on earth were you fighting?

AMAYA: Not who – _what._ There were these _wires_ – somehow I ended up inside the wall and then that room –

STEIN: Have you see anyone else yet?

AMAYA: Not yet. I was following voices when the lights went out again – I must have taken a wrong turn and tripped something.

 

** DELETED SCENE (On the Waverider, the team is talking about maybe going onto the Mosaic, and realise that the crew of the mystery ship is probably long dead) **

JAX: Not to mention the fact that anything strong enough to take out the A.I. functions in a ship is gonna be more than enough to mess with the engines and navigation.

GIDEON: Indeed. Not to mention life support.

There’s a pause, and slowly people grimace.

STEIN: Are you implying that the ship’s residents are…well…

MICK: Pushing daisies.

STEIN throws an exasperated look at MICK, who raises his eyebrows in return. Everyone else either half-grins or rolls their eyes; not bad-naturedly but also not approvingly.

GIDEON: Given that in all likelihood the life support systems are malfunctioning, the possibility of daisies growing from the corpses of the former crew is exceedingly –

STEIN: Unpleasant?

GIDEON: Unlikely. But yes, I suppose unpleasant, also.

STEIN: Well, at least we’re in agreement in that.

SARA: But there’s no real way of telling if anyone’s alive in there, right?

RAY: Shrödinger’s Time Master. Heh.

RAY smiles at his own joke, but it doesn’t go down so well with the others given its morbidity. He gets embarrassed.

 

** DELETED SCENE (On the Waverider, before boarding the Mosaic – Mick and Sara conversation) **

Scene: We pan down the hallway leading to the airlock room. Sara, Jax and Stein are turning a corner, walking with purpose, and Sara is speaking to both of them.

“Once we’re in, we stay together. Jax, Professor, you guys stick together but try not to use your powers unless totally necessary.”

“ _Naturally_ ,” says Stein, sharply.

Sara just grins and nudges Stein; she can tell he’s scared. “Relax, Gideon will be keeping an eye on things. The ship is empty, and there’s no such thing as ghosts – right, Gideon?”

“ Actually, Captain Lance –”

Stein just groans and pushes ahead, walking quickly away off screen as Sara and Jax lag behind and grin at one another. Jax walks on ahead, and Sara heads in the same direction after shaking her head with amusement. As she’s passing a doorway she glances in and stops abruptly. We see Mick, staring into nothing, his face pained. Mick’s head shakes to the side a little, like he’s saying no. Sara frowns and goes closer.

“Hey. Mick. You okay?”

Mick blinks hard and shakes his shoulders. His reply, when he speaks, is gruff and he doesn’t make eye contact with Sara. He’d clearly been in the middle of checking his heat gun and he goes back to this, wiping it down and making sure everything was in the right place.

“Sure,” he says, a bit too casually. “Just remembering another time we boarded an abandoned-looking ship that had sent out a distress signal.”

Sara starts; she’s clearly remembering the events from S1E7 “Marooned”. Her face goes tight and she crosses her arms, looking Mick firmly in the face. “Hey. This is different.”

Mick shrugs and stands, moving to leave the room. “Is it now,” he says flatly.

Sara, determined not to let Mick walk away, grabs his arm and pulls him around.

“Damn right, it is,” she says. “You went through hell and back – you need to give yourself a break. Take it from me – you can’t always be paying for the problems of the past.”

Mick examines Sara, searching her face for some kind of answer, but inevitably his eyes are drawn past Sara’s shoulder, to where Len stands silently, arms crossed and brows drawn. Len meets his eyes, and Mick sees something in Len’s face – something painful. Something that causes Mick pain. Mick blinks hard.

“Yeah. Ain’t so sure about that.”

Mick pulls away from Sara and walks away. Sara stands there for a moment, looking at the other man’s back, but then he frowns in confusion and turns around, searching for what had caught Mick’s attention. There’s nothing there, of course.

 

** DELETED SCENE (Jax and Ray in the Engineering room on the Mosaic) **

We hear a screeching noise, and then a closed door. Slowly, the panels open to reveal JAX and RAY, slowly pulling the doors open.

JAX: Okay – okay –

RAY: You got it?

JAX: Yeah man, I’ve got it, hurry up –

RAY hurriedly jams a metal pole in between the panels to keep the door opened. JAX lets go with a relieved exhalation, and they step inside the room. It’s clearly the engine room – dirty with disuse, but familiar. JAX rubs his hands together.

JAX: All right. Let’s see if we can figure out what the heck is going on.

RAY lets his backpack slide off his shoulder and he begins to rummage through it, picking out tools and passing them to JAX as they both approach a panel on the wall. There are plenty of confusion controls within the fuse box, and they both frown.

RAY: You said the ship has power?

JAX: Yeah – you can just about hear the hum. What’s weird is that – well, when a ship has power, it’s supposed to act like it. Full lights, power, you know. Except the ship looks dead.

RAY: Something must be blocking the connection. Maybe it ties in with what Gideon said about the A.I. function.

JAX: Yeah…but that’s some pretty advanced stuff. Gideon runs through every inch of our ship – if she was hijacked, we’d be screwed.

RAY: That must have been what happened here – somebody hijacked _their_ A.I. and turned the ship into a hunting ground.

JAX: Left them just enough power to get by on, but trashed the place so they couldn’t fight back? Maybe it was another pirate crew. Seems like a pretty big job just for a few people.

RAY: Hey, hold on – what’s this?

RAY starts digging around inside a panel and pulls out a . He and JAX share a look, and RAY pulls out a screen from his backpack.

RAY: Pieced this together from Waverider specs. Think it’ll play?

JAX: One way to find out, man.

RAY plugs it in. It’s an audio file, and the scratchy sound of a man’s voice – British accent – starts to play.

VOICE: We’re going to die here. I can feel it, I know it. We’ll die like rats in a barrel.

JAX and RAY glance at each other, wide eyed.

VOICE: It’s everyone for themselves now. Zebrina’s disappeared, and Carroll, god help Carroll – I’ve locked myself in this room, who knows if the others have been poisoned by that witch – I keep trying to rewrite the power, but she’s too quick for me. She was supposed to be the reliable one – she was supposed to take care of us and now look at us – she killed Jenny, I know she did – the Captain won’t listen, he trusts her beyond all of us – even Carroll for goodness sake! But our companion has become our murderer – I need to get off this ship – God help us, Eurydice is no good to anyone and it was her brain we needed – _damn_ Grace and her manipulations, _damn_ the Captain and his blindness, and most of all _damn_ the Time Masters – agh!

There’s a scuffling noise – and then, intense choking –

VOICE: No – no, Grace –

Another voice, a woman’s, soft and British, joins the recording.

WOMAN: Please. Please, Octavius –

VOICE: S-stop –

WOMAN: Dave knows what he’s doing. _I_ know what I’m doing. Trust me, Octavius.

The male voice cuts out into choking. Eventually there’s a clattering noise and the recording stops. Before RAY or JAX can react, the lights flicker and the intercom screech to life. Coming from it…is MICK’s voice –

MICK: Who the hell are you?

 

**THE END**

**Thank you for reading!**


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